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Reduced Sugar Free Stevia Alternative Sweetener

Sugar. Is it Really the “Dietary Villain of Our Time” and What are Food Manufacturers to Do?

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Last Sunday night (14/6/15), 60 Minutes ran a story called ‘Secret Sugar’. Leila McKinnon described sugar as “the dietary villain of our time” and Allison Langdon opened with “many of the foods marketed as healthy are in fact choc-full of sugar…there’s a massive industry pulling every trick in the book to get you and I hooked on sugar”. It is true that we are consuming much more sugar than we should. However, I believe the problem is largely a result of a lack of nutritional education amongst consumers, rather than a deliberate ploy by food manufactures to get us hooked on sugar.

 

Food manufactures add sugar to their products to make them taste good. Have you ever tried a biscuit without sugar? It is bland and tasteless. A product like chocolate is too bitter and almost inedible when sugar is absent. Sweetness is required, in some form and amount, to help make our food palatable. Read more →

Sensory Research Quality Price Australia

Is the Quality of Your FMCG In-Line with its Price?

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Quality and price are perceived as positively correlated by consumers.  In general, as price points increase, so does our perceptions of quality.  This holds true for many brands, however, we can all recall examples of when we have bought a cheaper version of a product and been pleasantly surprised by its quality (expectations were exceeded), and also when we have bought a more expensive product only to be disappointed (it failed to deliver).

 

In the world of food and beverages, quality is directly related to how much consumers like a product and how it delivers on key sensory measures such as taste, texture, aroma etc.

 

A good strategy for producers of FMCG’s is to keep on top of how your product and its competitors are performing on key sensory measures with a routine category audit.  This enables you to track the quality and purchase interest of your product versus competitors over time, and make sure yours is consistently performing at an acceptable level.  It also gives you insights into any changes Read more →

Innovation R&D Research Development Sensory Australia

A Great Innovations/R&D Team are Worth Their Weight in Gold

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People who are experienced, passionate about their work, and genuinely care about making a difference usually succeed in their career – regardless of their industry.  In the case of Innovations or Research & Development (R&D) for Fast Moving Consumer Good’s (FMCG’s) these characteristics are invaluable.

 

Consumer sensory research is usually conducted prior to the launch of a new product.  We therefore get to see the standard produced by many different R&D teams.  Some only ever produce mediocre products that require many changes and usually further sensory research.  Some are inconsistent and either hit or miss the target, while others consistently produce market ready products. It is the latter group that provide cost efficiencies for their company and the best chance of success for their new product. Read more →